


the evil it spread, like a fever ahead

by novub



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Angst, Early Sburb, F/F, Grimdark, Hurt/Comfort, SBURB
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-27
Updated: 2016-05-27
Packaged: 2018-07-10 11:44:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6983599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/novub/pseuds/novub
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>did you get enough love, my little dove? why do you cry?</p><p>seer asked, jade goes in for tender damage control</p>
            </blockquote>





	the evil it spread, like a fever ahead

breath catching, jade presses her calloused fingers into the contours of rose's jaw, rising with the inky tendrils that try to pull them apart. "come back to me," she chokes, searching for any sign of recognition in rose's wide, unseeing eyes. "rose, rose, come back to me, you'll be alright, come back to me... rose!" 

rose's normally dark and freckled skin is washed out with grey, sticky with tar and bloody tears. jade swipes them away with her trembling thumbs, and rose throws her head back in a garbled howl, pushing jade away jerkily, thorns of oglogoth aloft. their hair and clothes whip around in the wind, and jade squeezes her eyes shut, shifting to wrap her arms and legs around any part of rose's stiff form she can hold, hands around rose's fists. the eerie screeches of grimdarkness are too close, too close for jade's comfort, too close to rose, they _have_ rose, rose, "rose, rose, rose... rose, it's going to be okay... you can't kill jack alone, your mom wouldn't have wanted that, she wanted you to live, survive, rose, survive here with us, we love you, we'll help you, we love you, _i love you_ , rose-- tell me what you did learn?" 

fighting the haphazard kicks to her stomach, jade straightens up to face rose again, pushing her own billowing hair back, eyebrows furrowed. she puts her forehead against rose's, breathing more deeply and calmly despite the ink beginning to creep up her own hands. "breathe with me," jade commands, hoping human biology still a little bit of a foot in the eldritch door. rose shudders, no longer screaming, but lip drawn back in a snarl. jade remembers long, quiet nights awake together from across oceans, shared songs and poetry and jokes. jade remembers skype calls and when everything was fiction, future, and prediction, shared theories and dreams before everything went to shit. she weaves her fingers into rose's hair. "breathe-- breathe with me, lalonde. breathe. rose." the burning white light somewhere behind rose's eyes flickers, and rose lowers her arms, thorns dropping to the battlefield far below. "breathe". rose lurches forward, head slamming into jade's sturdy shoulder, a weight of tens and thousands of pounds. she arches and twists as if her very viscera are being pulled through her mouth. "make the most of your life, while it is rife, while it is light," jade croons, tasting the salt running down her cheeks. "you'll be okay, rose, it'll be okay, we'll be fine, you're safe, you're going to be safe,"

the two descend, the tar that tried to coax rose towards the furthest ring beginning to dissipate. jade turns so rose faces skaia and she herself faces the bloody checkers fast approaching. "you don't have to hurt anyone, you won't, you can't hurt me, it'll turn out okay," jade promises. she cradles rose below her, and smiles widely as recognition replaces agony. "jade," rose chokes out, a voice so small and different, lost of its careful bravado. "oh, jade," she repeats, grey peeling away from her dark skin in murky droplets, and jade smiles, widely enough that it pains her, as the ground rushes up to meet them. 

physics be damned-- jade wills herself to damn them, if only for a moment-- they sit up, clinging to each other in breathless, stale panic, coughing through the dust. "can't hurt you," rose repeats, and they cry.

**Author's Note:**

> i have been listening to fourth of july by sufjan stevens for like four hours and also am a notorious multishipper and also slightly delirious
> 
> tried to decide between this and something similar w roxy + tiaratop jane, but rose's grimdarkness hits my angst spot a lot more powerfully since it was all grief and hopelessness and turning herself over to the horrorterrors instead of being possessed against her will which makes me really really really sad about grimbark jade because of the isolation she suffered on the yellow yard (post-retcon) BUT I DIGRESS


End file.
